They would ask me what actors I saw in the roles. I would tell them, and they’d say “Oh that’s interesting.” And that would be the end of it.
--Elmore Leonard, in 2000, on the extent of his input for Hollywood's adaptation of his novels

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Lisa Shearin's "Magic Lost, Trouble Found"

Lisa Shearin has been a magazine editor, advertising copywriter, and writer of corporate marketing materials of every description. Her novels include Magic Lost, Trouble Found and Armed & Magical. A unique blend of fantasy, adventure and romance, Lisa’s series features Raine Benares, a sorceress and seeker—a finder of things lost and people missing. Raine’s third adventure, The Trouble With Demons, will hit bookstore shelves in the spring of 2009.

Here she discusses her ideas on casting should her series ever be adapted for the big screen:

For me, it’s the characters who make a book, and their relationships that weave the story. I’ve never been big on physical descriptions in my books, yet I have a detailed image of each character in my mind as I write. A couple of months ago on my blog, I thought it’d be fun to have my fans weigh in on who they thought should play my characters should I ever get The Call from Peter Jackson. It was amazing to me how many different impressions readers have of my characters—and it was a lot of fun.

My main character, the elven sorceress and seeker Raine Benares, defends her friends by going toe-to-toe with the bad guys. She’s tough, yet caring, and you never know what she’s going to say or do next. I think Felicia Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Guild) or Miranda Otto (LOTR) would be excellent choices. For the hot and handsome elven Guardian, Mychael Eiliesor, Gerard Butler would be my hands-down choice. Vincent Irrizary would be excellent as the wicked sexy goblin and nightclub owner, Tamnais Nathrach.

For Raine’s cousin, the scion of the most notorious criminal family in the seven kingdoms, Johnny Depp gets the nod. Give this devilishly delicious man some elf ears, and he'd be good to go. Piaras Rivalin is a young, yet incredibly powerful elven spellsinger who manages to get tangled up in any trouble Raine finds. Josh Groban would be a perfect Piaras: big brown eyes, dark curls, killer set of baritone pipes. Sign this kid up.

For my villains, Richard Armitage who plays Sir Guy of Gisborne in the BBC's Robin Hood would make a wonderfully evil goblin grand shaman, Sarad Nukpana. A young Frank Langella would be a good casting choice for the power-hungry goblin king, Sathrik Mal’Salin. And for Sathrik’s younger brother, the exiled Prince Chigaru Mal’Salin, I think that Stephen Caudill (independent film actor of End of the Spear and The Other Side) would fill the bill nicely.

“Compared to a novel, a film is like an economy pizza where there are no olives, no ham, no anchovies, no mushrooms, and all you’ve got is the dough.”
--Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin